Round table discussion — June 2, 2011, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Osloo / Danish Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale
Key Speakers
Christine Eyene (Cameroon/France/UK, Curator), Johann van der Schijff (South Africa, Visual Artist) and Georges H. Rabbath (Lebanon, Curator).
Christine Eyene — Creative Africa Network & Gwanza Month of Photography 2011
Christine Eyene is an art critic, independent curator and consultant. She is curator of the African selection of the 3rd edition of Photoquai – Biennial of World Images, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (September 2011); Gwanza – Month of Photography, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (August 2011); and co-curator of FOCUS11 – Contemporary Art Africa, Art|42|Basel parallel event (June 2011). As an art critic she has contributed articles to Africultures, Art South Africa, Basler Zeitung, Manifesta Journal and Third Text.
Prior to working as an independent curator, Eyene was consultant for PUMA from 2008 to 2010, developing the initial phase of the Creative Africa Network with Raphael Chikukwa, Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and Macha Roesink, Artistic and Managing Director at Museum De Paviljoen.
Johann van der Schijff — Community Punching Bags
Johann van der Schijff is an artist living and working in South Africa. He is a senior lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. Growing up in South Africa, questions of power relations in society underlie much of his work, forcing the viewer into a position of choice in their engagement with his artworks. He is currently guest artist in residency at the Thamgidi Studio Foundation in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
The CPBs project addresses challenges of co-existence faced by communities from different cultural backgrounds, through art teachers and school children workshops and an exhibition of drawings, paper cut-outs and punching bags. The second CPBs project explores the parallels between South Africa and The Netherlands in dealing with cultural diversity, culminating in a curated exhibition.
Georges H. Rabbath — Allegora: Lebanon, a State of Mind
Writer and associate professor in human sciences based in Beirut. His main interests include the relations between scientific discovery and contemporary art practices and the dynamic shift of art’s locus in contemporary artworks.
During the 54th Venice Biennale, Georges H. Rabbath presented Allegora — Lebanon, a State of Mind, operating outside the official Biennale channels following the cancellation of the Lebanese pavilion. Allegora addresses the notion of chaos and how cultures in extreme difference can coexist. Artists from Ethiopia, Denmark and other countries were invited to participate and create works in dialogue and collaboration in Beirut.
Organised by
Tijana Mišković (Denmark / Former Yugoslavia, Curator), Tine Bundgaard (Denmark, Artistic Director and Curator, SAIR) and Michelle Eistrup (Denmark / Jamaica, Visual Artist and Curator).
